Ten.One Hundred & Eighty-One

3. So cold but I must get the blueberries and the sour cream and the parsley. Oh, and the video game. Because he's turning 10.

4. I've been a mother and a wife for 10 years. It is a decade. It is a significant stretch of time and yet it is also just a microscopic dot on an infinite timeline.

5. How do we determine what is significant.

6. Laundry never goes away.

7. I walk in the snow to go get him. The snow feels like it's falling in thin sheets. Everything has a fresh coat of white on it and the streets are quiet. I'm glad I am walking because the way the cold air is coming into my lungs makes me feel alive again.

8. Beef stroganoff. I am feeling uninspired in the kitchen lately. This is an old, but good, standby. And it sticks to the bones.

9. I am not a winter person. I turn off the fireplace and stand there, my nose pressed against the mantle, to feel the heat continue to radiate upward onto my belly and face.